Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella
If you’re reading this blog you’ve read this book. If you’re reading this blog you’ve seen the movie. If you haven’t done either, what are you doing here??? Seriously, go watch Jersey Shore or Glee, or rent Harry Potter and the Goblet of Crap and never come back here!!!!! Are they gone? Ok let’s continue.
WP Kinsella is a Canadian, writing about baseball. Does that seem strange to you? Kinsella will be 76 on May 25th of this year. Happy Birthday WP Kinsella and thank you for such a great book.
We all know the plot of this baseball fantasy: Ray hears voices, Ray builds a baseball diamond in his cornfield, Joe Jackson shows up, Ray kidnaps J D Salinger(Terrance Mann), Moonlight Graham gets an at bat, and Ray has a catch with his Dad.
Whenever I’m flipping through the channels and Field Of Dreams pops up, I have to watch it. I think Kevin Costner is a pretty good actor when he doesn’t have gills, or he’s not delivering post-apocalyptic mail, and I think he does a great job of capturing the Ray Kinsella of the book. The book and the movie are pretty close in plot, but for me the book out shines the movie.
The book, is one of those that I have to read every couple of years. It makes me wish that there really could be a magic cornfield somewhere, and that Catcher in the Rye was a really good book, but we know that it’s just not possible. The fantasy, poetry and rhythm of the book doesn’t show up in the film as strongly, but it does make an appearance. I will always stop and watch the movie and the book will always have a place on my bookshelf.
There was a line in the book that isn’t in the movie, but I loved it: Whereas Fenway Park, as integral to the plot in the book as it is in the movie, has no seats behind the wall in left field, Ray had seats only in left field. (Because Joe Jackson was a left fielder.) I also liked that they stopped off in Minnesota and watched a game at Metropolitan Stadium, whose doom was already in progress, and talked about how nice the grass was there, when the Metrodome, soon to replace it, had such hideous artificial turf. Even the tribute to Thurman Munson, as the book takes place in 1979, was nice.
Comment by Uncle Mike — February 11, 2011 @ 11:04 am |
Anyone who enjoyed the movie should take the time to read the book, they won’t be sorry.
Thanks for checking in.
Kevin
Comment by Kevin G — February 11, 2011 @ 4:42 pm |
The movie, Field of Dreams, is one of my all-time favorites. Even after watching 30+ times, the scene where Doc Graham crosses over the line to save Kinsella’s daughter and the “Hey, Dad. Wanna have a catch?” line break me up every time.
Anyhow, I enjoyed the movie so much that I read the book. But that was years ago…I recall the ending of the book being different than the movie. Is that not true?
Comment by diamondreplays — February 11, 2011 @ 2:19 pm |
Jimmie,
The ending of the book is close to the end of the movie. Now the end of The Natural is completely different from the book.
Kevin
Comment by Kevin G — February 11, 2011 @ 4:45 pm |
thnx bro
Comment by facebook layouts — February 15, 2011 @ 7:03 pm |